Chapter 1 – Top Of The Tower

Games that had gone to ruin.

Often it’s because they weren’t fun or the balance between the characters was broken.

Or it was a game where the operation wasn’t smooth.

But there were other reasons too.

Such as if the game was absurdly hard to clear.

The virtual reality game [Tower of Trials] was precisely that.

A year after its release, Korean gaming veterans, whose hobby was to make the lives of the game’s creators a mess, clashed to reach the game’s end.

They had given up eating and sleeping for 365 days.

However, three years passed, and the players began to realize.

They realized that the game could not be cleared and that it was no exaggeration.

A simple example?

The Gate Guardian protecting the 10th floor was invincible

Invincible.

It meant that even if 100 people all fired off their best skills and used their best weapons, it would be futile.

No, logically speaking, shouldn’t at least one thing work?

In addition, there was the 7th floor with arctic weather with average temperatures of minus 60 degrees Celsius, and your character froze within an hour.

The 8th-floor labyrinth in which the whole path was more than 10,000 km.

The game design wasn’t fun. It was torture.

Or perhaps it was a masterpiece made to fuck with the people of Korea.

Because of that, the game’s popularity cratered.

In other words, it was ‘almost’ buried.

Still, there were a handful of players who challenged this damned hell of a game.

And among them…

A young Korean man, Kang Jin-hyuk, was included.

[You have conquered the 50th floor!]

[Congratulations! You have cleared the Tower of Trials for the first time ever!]

“Is this… for real?”

The 50th floor of the Tower of Trials.

Jin-hyuk sighed as he felt emotions fill him.

It was fun.

Unlike the other players, he never stopped attacking the tower.

After you repeat a level enough times to memorize everything, that sense of accomplishment. But, to actually manage to clear the last floor…

He was 17 when he first encountered virtual reality games. He was 27 now.

Wow, almost 11 years passed by at the speed of light.

‘Haha. Should I stop streaming?’

Although he was a Broadcast Jockey with a decent number of viewers, a BJ was still only a BJ.

But Jin-hyuk shook his head.

Seriously, no one would care if he turned off the broadcast now. Even the fixed viewers he had in the past began to go offline as he kept streaming the same thing for three months.

Even now, if he tried to attract attention using the title of ‘Boss Attack’ or ‘50th Floor’, nobody would come and watch because it was fromTower of Trials.

‘But if I upload it to Viewtube, wouldn’t a few people watch it?’

The result that came out after 10 minutes of editing was a nice-looking video.

It was then.

Tring!

[Thank you very much for playing the game so far.]

[The reboot update will be done in 12 hours, so please play it.]

An administrator-only message.

He thought they had given up on the game since no one had bothered to communicate or manage it for 11 years.

‘That’s surprising. Additionally, it is a reboot update. Did they find some oil fields in the desert to have that much money?’

He didn’t understand the logic. There was no profit in doing this now…

‘… don’t bother thinking about it. They must be up to something.’

Because he had no intention of playing the game anymore, even if there was a reboot or whatnot.

Besides, Jin-hyuk was thinking of making today the last day for BJ-ing.

Even if he didn’t have a family to support, he was almost 27. He can’t continue just living on 500 dollars a month.

‘I’ve got to tell the director I will take a break from exercising.’

He once had been told to aim to become a pro martial artist, but now money was more important than those kind of dreams.

-jjy77: Jin! Jin! Jin-hyuk hi!

-Eagle Owl: Oh, what is it? You’re up early today, too?

As he turned on the broadcast, his 20 fixed viewers joined in. Chicken, pizza, cream prawns, and two bottles of beer were prepared on the desk.

-Been On to Die for 25 Years Now: Look at you!

-Best Mukbang: As expected, bro’s mukbang is the best.

-Jin-hyuk on the Roll: Who do you think BJ Jin-hyuk is?

-Coffindance: He’ll eat the stable door after the horse,

-Unemployed Viewer: Eat stones before leaping!

-1person2chickens: Eat the lid and pot after licking the inside clean!

Still, thanks to the small group of viewers, the broadcast continued.

Dawn approached as they laughed, talked, drank alcohol, and ate snacks together.

‘I’ll have to tell them about this ending through a notice or a post tomorrow…’

Right now, he couldn’t spill it out.

Right.

He’ll say it tomorrow.

But…

Even Jin-hyuk himself didn’t know.

When he opened his eyes tomorrow, the world he knew would have changed forever.